Today's food storage containers generally fall into two classes: either bulky and reusable, or lightweight but designed for single-use disposable options. The former is either a glass item that offers toxin-free storage, but is heavy to carry, or a plastic container, that may have toxins and still may be too bulky for practical uses. The lightweight alternatives are often disposable style bags with a sealed closure, but are made of a material and/or design specific for single use purposes. While some customers do wash and reuse, these lightweight disposable style bags tend to deteriorate and/or fall apart rather quickly after first use. Furthermore, they are not designed to withstand multiple cleanings in the dishwasher or washing machine.
Examples of various storage containers can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 8,578,572, entitled “CLOSURE MECHANISM AND METHOD OF CLOSING”; U.S. Pat. No. 8,568,031, entitled “CLICKING CLOSURE DEVICE FOR A RECLOSABLE BAG”; U.S. Pat. No. 8,308,021, entitled “DISPOSABLE STORAGE CONTAINER”; U.S. Pat. No. 8,469,593, entitled “RECLOSABLE BAG HAVING A PRESS TO VENT ZIPPER”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,766, entitled “WATERPROOF CLOSURE SEAL FOR BAGS, CLOTHING AND OTHER USES”, U.S. Pat. No. 8,196,269, entitled “CLOSURE MECHANISM FOR A RECLOSABLE POUCH”, U.S. Pat. No. 8,474,623, entitled “ECOLOGICAL SNACK BAG”; U.S. Pat. No. 7,857,515, entitled “AIRTIGHT CLOSURE MECHANISM FOR A RECLOSABLE POUCH”; U.S. Pat. No. 8,197,139, entitled “VALVE AND VALVE STRIP FOR A RECLOSABLE CONTAINER”; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,308,021, entitled “DISPOSABLE STORAGE CONTAINER”.
These and other storage containers currently available on the market suffer some or all the aforementioned drawbacks and/or lack certain desirable properties such as lightweight, flexibility, washability, sealability, reusability, durability, etc. Consequently, there is room for innovations and improvements in the field of storage containers.